Awakening
by starspawn07
Summary: What happens when you die and is brought back as a bloodletter ... with all your knowledge and personality intact ? And how is that even possible ? on hiatus ...
1. The Awakening

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

The Warhammer 40k franchise is the property of Games Workshop.

Legend ( for now ):

"Speech"

"**Daemonic Speech"**

_Thoughts/Telepathy_

_**Daemonic Thoughts/Telepathy**_

…

**The Awakening**

BOOM !

Gy's vision cleared with a start. Now wide alert, his eyes darted left and right in search of the source of the gunshot noise. Quickly, they settled upon the smoking pistol held by Commissar Warren.

"When I speak, you LISTEN !" the Commissar shouted across the field. "NO BUTS!"

A sinking feeling settled in Gy's stomach, as if someone was gradually pressing a foot into his belly. Shakily, he turned his gaze away from the Commissar, swept it slowly across an expanse of sand and grass the size of two football fields, over the 99 troopers, in their standard dark green uniforms, standing at attention before him and the Commissar, and the one trooper lying on the ground in the middle of the ranks.

When he finally rushed over to that trooper's side, the latter was already slightly convulsing all over, blood streaming from a hole in his forehead, eyes staring far up into the sky.

"Soft … belly …" Gy started calling the trooper's nickname. "Swift ! Ringworm ! Go get the medics NOW !" The two troopers immediately sprinted off in the Medical Centre's direction even before Gy finished giving that order. They were just eager to get away from the field. Gy picked up on the same sentiment radiating off the other troopers ( a commander has to know his men well ) and followed up, "Battalion dismissed ! Back to your bunks now ! You four ! help me carry him to the MC !". The troopers complied, and briskly jogged off the field before Commissar Warren's shouts of "Get back in line !" and "Nobody's going anywhere !" could reach their ears.

"S … Sir …" Softbelly stuttered as eight hands prepared to lift him off the ground, "I'm a … in deep shit … aren't I ?"

"No you aren't !" Gy had produced a rag from somewhere and tied it around Softbelly's forehead.

"Hehe … you … always … warned me to … stay alert … else I'll end up … with a round … in my … head." Softbelly's voice was becoming barely coherent.

"That's RIGHT ! Stay Alert ! You can do it, boy !" Gy fought to keep himself from shouting. Shouting was just one step away from breaking down.

_Come on, the MC is just right beside the field ! Why is it so far away now ?_

The Medical centre was part of the crescent ridge of buildings surrounding the training field. From afar the camp looked like a dull grey assortment of cubes, racks, platforms, etc, with the occasional transparent green panel or red spot of light, extremely utilitarian, as was all imperial guard facilities.

When they had finally rushed past the simple white door with a big red sign saying "Emergency" on it, Gy had to bend down and hold his ear close to Softbelly's face to hear the latter's voice.

"Sir, we'd appreciate it if you give us some space to work." One of the group of medics said as Gy and the four troopers slid Softbelly onto the bed.

Gy nodded, but before he could turn away, Softbelly suddenly grabbed Gy's collar with on hand, and blurted in an unusually clear voice.

"Sir ! I don't want to die like this ! I want to go down fighting them Xenos and Freaks, not like this … !"

Gy could only return Softbelly's wild and wide-eyed stare. Should he commend the latter's brave effort to stay alive, or should he ask him to calm down so as not to exarcerbate his condition ?

"Not like this … ! Not like this … ! …" Softbelly repeated the last phrase over and over. Each time, his voice grew softer, his eyes stiller, and his grip on Gy's collar loosened.

By then, the rag wrapped around Softbelly's head had been drenched deep red. Some of the blood had seeped out and washed over his face.

Finally, the sight of Softbelly's blood-soaked, still visage, with eyes frozen in a distant, but wide and defiant glare, struck Gy with panic … and also brought up an unnameable excitement in his subconscious.

"Soft … Softbelly ? Softbelly ? SOFTBELLY ? COME ON, ANSWER ME DAMMIT !" To the astonishment of everyone else in the room, Gy's worried expression twisted itself into a snarl of rage. "ALRIGHT, YOU'RE QUITTING NOW, IS IT ? QUITTING NOW IS IT ? I'LL SHOW YOU ! NOBODY QUITS ON ME !"

Unbeknownst to the others in the room, Softbelly's lifeless body shuddered for a moment, as if shocked by Gy's outburst as well, but everyone's attention was instead focused on the angry Lieutenant, now hunched over the bed, like a wild predator preparing to tear apart a fresh kill.

"Sir !" The four troopers stepped forward and caught hold of Gy's arms and shoulders. For a few silent seconds, they held that pose, Gy with arms out ready to pounce, restrained from behind by eight arms.

Then, slowly, Gy let his arms droop, straightened his back, and turned to face his men with a forced expression of calm. He had to lower his gaze and pull down his cap to hide his eyes though. The latter felt like they were on fire, and probably did not look very reassuring at all. "I'm sorry." He waved his free hand at the medics. "Please continue. The Emperor guide your hands."

As he exited the emergency ward, he heard heavy footsteps coming his way from the far end of the dull grey corridor, and turned towards its source. Approaching him now was a middle-aged man dressed in an extremely formal black uniform, covered in medals, with a large red cape flowing from his shoulders. A big red beret sat above a highly angular face, lips pressed together in contempt.

"What did you think you were doing ?" Commissar Warren asked when he came within two metres of where Gy stood. "We were in the middle of a drill !"

"They needed rest." Gy whispered, still covering his eyes with one hand.

"That is for me to decide, not you !" the Commissar pointed a gloved finger at Gy's concealed face. "Look here, Lieutenant, we've had enough of your insubordination ! When we ordered you to strike, you retreat ! When we ordered you to stay put, you move off ! Is this really the most respected regiment among the Guard ?" Warren stabbed his finger at the badge near Gy's collar, with the words "20th Cadian Armoured Brigade" engraved in relief on it.

"You don't know the Chaos freaks like we do Sir." Gy's voice remained soft but low and disturbingly hoarse. "Throwing our men at them at the wrong time will only result in massive casualties, in effect, sacrificing our lives to Chaos. They don't need rituals to –"

"You keep spouting blasphemies like that, I'll have you tried ! And look at me when I'm talking to you !"

Gy's head shot up to meet the Commissar's gaze, and the letter immediately jerked back in shock.

The Lieutenant's eyes weren't bloodshot at all. However, his normally light brown irises were now practically glowing, fiery red, like molten metal in a blast furnace. In the middle of the iris the pupil shrank and flared out occasionally like a sunspot.

The glare of this sun forced Commissar Warren to break the gaze and turn awkwardly away. As he walked down the corridor away from Gy, he shouted out, "Well then, prepare to face the consequences, Lieutenant !"

In a flash, Gy whipped out his laspistol and pointed it shakily at the Commissar's receding figure. He held it in that position, his finger just a micrometer away from pulling the trigger. Then the Commissar disappeared round a corner, and Gy gasped and slammed the weapon into the nearby wall.

"Sir ?" Came the voice of one of the troopers, who had just come out of the room to see what was going on.

"It's nothing." Gy whispered between heavy breathing.

…

A few days later …

…

"I told you, NOTHING OF THAT SORT !" Gy shouted. He took a few seconds to catch his breath. "This is outrageous !" He wanted to stand and slam his hands onto the table before him, like he always did when something outrageous happened, but now his hands were tied together behind him, and the two heavy hands pressing down own his shoulders from behind prevented him from leaving the wooden chair he was sitting on.

"Believe me, Lieutenant Rend, the Inquisition has dealt with far more outrageous incidents."

The man interrogating Gy appeared more like a bounty hunter from a barren land than an investigator. A brown leather trench coat, shaped like an extended jacket, over a dull red tunic and trousers. Partially concealed by the cape-like coat, were a rifle slung low over his back, and a sheathed sword attached to a brown leather belt, along with small utility pockets of dubious contents.

He was tall and lean. This became further pronounced due to the black conical wide-brimmed hat that he wore, which, in the dimly lit environment of the interrogation room, cast a shadow over the upper half of his long, bony face.

"Your past records have been rather suspicious, Lieutenant. Your always tried to avoid direct confrontation with Chaos forces, and when you do engage, the battles went too conveniently smooth for you. And …" Inquisitor Sisus continued, unmoved by Gy's exasperated defense. "Commissar Warren's reports about you were particularly unsettling."

"Oh did they ?" Gy spat.

_I should have killed him on the first day, just like …_

_**Yes, kill them ! They all deserve to die ! **_

Gy stiffened all over in shock. _What the hell was that ?_

_**Yes, give them HELL !**_

"I sense a killer intent. Reinforce the ropes." Sisus motioned to the man standing behind Gy.

"Right away." The two large hands began winding extra lengths of rope around him at chest level.

"Look, since you're psychic, why don't you just read my mind ?" Gy pleaded. "You'll know that I'm innocent."

_**I've been too soft, so everyone thinks he can ride over my head … and now I'm letting someone into my head ? … **__I'm not soft ! My men's safety is non-negotiable !_

_**Safety ? They'll all get killed in the end ! By the enemy ! By their own idiot commanders ! Drowning in their own blood ! Blood pouring, skulls rolling … **_

"Oh I have." Sisus replied, picking up on Gy's confused mental state. " And what I've found out tells me otherwise. Was it simply by luck that you knew all the best times and best places to attack the Chaos strongholds ? Obviously not."

_**Everyone doubts me ! Everyone thinks he can tell me what to do !**_

_Stop that !_

_**NOONE CAN TELL ME WHAT TO DO ! ONLY I CAN DO THAT !**_

_Then stop that ! Let me think clearly !_

_**NOT YET !**_

"**WHY ?" **Gy tried to clear his mind by hitting his forehead on the edge of the table, but to no avail. To a lay observer, it appeared he had just broken down under the stress of the interrogation, but the Inquisitor knew otherwise.

"Seth, hold him down ! Incapacitate him if he turns dangerous !" Sisus drew his Force Sword.

"**YOU CAN'T HOLD ME !" **Gy bellowed in a low and hoarse voice. His eyes now had the same red glow with which he stared down the Commissar in the MC corridor a few days ago. He roared, gnashed his teeth, and began to rock back and forth in his seat, up and down, left and right, like a caged beast trying to break out of its claustrophobic prison, and almost succeeding. Seth, Sisus's assistant standing behind Gy, fought to keep the latter from standing up.

"**The Chaos Freaks thought they could trap us in that jungle. We slaughtered them ! BLEW THAT ENTIRE JUNGLE UP ! The Captain thought he could apprehend us for leaving our posts ! I killed him ! NOBODY MESSES WITH THE ARMOUR BRIGADE !"** Gy's voice now had now gone beyond the range of tones thought to be humanly possible. **"And those bloody locals, making those stupid noises day and night ! We chopped off their heads ! HAHAHA ! We killed them ! I KILLED THEM ! I KILLED THEM ALL !" **

It was a voice eerily familiar to the Inquisitor's ears.

"**BROKE THEIR MINDS !** **DRAINED THEIR SOULS ! TOOK THEIR BODIES !"**

Sisus frowned in concentration as he attempted to knock Gy out with a psychic assault, then gasped and jerked back as the attack was reflected back upon him. His vision blurred, his head ached as if someone had just swung a Daemonhammer at his skull, and his limbs grew weak.

"Seth … NOW !" Sisus ordered while trying to regain his balance.

However, before the assistant could do anything, Gy rocked back so hard, the chair fell back completely, so that now Gy lay with his back flat against the floor. He ignored the pain of his hands getting crushed between the chair's backrest and the floor, and kicked up at Seth's groin, with such force that the assistant, for all his imposing stature, flew back and crashed against the wall behind him with a sickening thud and crunch, before slumping down into a lifeless heap.

Now, Gy was rolling left and right attempting to break free of the ropes. His hands had gone numb.

Just then, he felt his chest getting cut open, and looked down to see Sisus plunging the force sword straight down into his heart. As the blade sank down, blood gushed out from the surrounding wound like a miniature fountain.

"Begone, daemon !" The Inquisitor then proceeded to mutter an incantation. Sparks of psychic energy began to dance across the surface of the force sword's blade.

He was interrupted by Gy's insane laughter.

"**HAHAHA ! DAEMON EH ? I'LL SHOW YOU !"**

The Inquisitor's eyes widened as the ropes that were restraining Gy suddenly flew apart, and the mad Lieutenant brought his hands out from under his back. The skin of the hands were tattered, blood seeped out and dyed both his arms red as the latter reached upwards. At the fingertips the flesh was completely gone, leaving the pointed tips of the finger bones giving them the appearance of talons.

These talons now dug themselves into the sides of Sisus's head. Though used to brawling with daemons, this turn of events had caught him completely off guard. "H-how ?"The Inquisitor let go of the hilt of his sword and gripped the bloody arms in an attempt to pull them off. Then he looked down again at the sword, and realized, the position where he had stabbed Gy. He cursed himself for his stupidity, then screamed as he felt daggers being thrust into his head.

Something was prying off his psychic defenses, like a stork cracking open the shells of a mussel or scallop. He tried to erect more shells around the core of his mind, but this psychic invader was just unstoppable. Whatever anti-daemon incantation that he threw up to protect himself was immediately torn down, until all his inner secrets were laid bare.

_How is this possible ? This should not be ! unless … _

The stream of coherent thoughts ceased, as his mind was overwhelmed with a torrent of Warp energy.

As he collapsed onto the floor, a deep red haze, the colour of blood, but the consistency of steam, erupted from the Inquisitor's mouth, ears, nose and other pores.

It filled up the entire room, seeped out through the seams in the doors and the ventilation system, and spread into the rest of the camp.

Right outside, a trooper who was passing by the interrogation room, noticed the ever thickening red haze that was constantly belching out from under its door, and expanding out along the corridor. As the haze drifted over a section of floor or wall, the latter was also gradually dyed a glistening deep red, like someone had splashed blood over it, and the blood was now flowing out over the surface as well.

He walked towards that door to investigate, but stopped three metres away from the edge of the widening deep red cloud, deciding that it was unwise to go so close to what could be a leakage of noxious gases.

Too late.

Just as he turned around, he was overcome by an unexplained urge to kill. He collapsed onto the floor, convulsed, and writhed, hands clawing at an imaginary opponent. An expression of extreme rage distorted his features beyond what was humanly possible.

And then the blood haze drifted over him.

Seconds later, the trooper stood up, on a pair of long digitigrades legs. Through the haze, one could make out a pair of bull-like horns protruding from the top of its long, alien skull. In its right hand it carried a large sword with jagged edges. It appeared to take a deep breath, then raise the sword, and let out a roar which sounded like that of various types of hungry flesh-eating beasts rolled into one.

"**BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD !"**

And further down the corridor, someone else answered in the same voice,

"**SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE !"**

…

That's all for now. If I keep typing, the quality will really suffer XP

I intended this story to be mostly sex and violence. It's not apparent in this chapter, but it will be in the next, I hope o,o

And no that's not the end of Gy ( obviously … ).

All suggestions are very appreciated. If you see that I'm mistaken about certain aspects of the WH40k universe, please do point it out. Don't expect me to stick completely to cannon though. This is _fanfiction_ after all.

Have a nice day/night

-Star


	2. To Hell and Back

Ok, no sex yet but the violence should begin soon :)

Legend:

"speech"

_thought_

'**Words of Power / Monstrous voice'**

}{ ( scene change )

; ( viewpoint change )

/( my comments, if there's any )

* * *

**To Hell and Back**

( QM office, 20th Armoured Brigade HQ Building ):

"**BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD !"**

"**SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE !"**

The unearthly cries resounded back and forth along the corridors, and in slightly muffled forms, across the walls, to be heard by the various unsuspecting personel carrying out their routines in the HQ building,

Including Corporal Puvas, now sitting alone at his reception desk in the Quartermaster's office.

Slightly annoyed, the Chief Clerk's assistant looked up from the book he had been reading and glared at the main door to the QM office, just three metres in front of his desk.

He frowned. He was on Orderly duty at the moment. If there was supposed to be a drill going on, he should have been informed beforehand.

He shook his head and sighed. _Probably some bored jokers trying to pull a prank on the rest of the HQ staff. Though, whoever dared to pull this kind of prank must have been either extremely bored, or gone insane._

_Either way,_ _it's none of my business, even if it's an important event, I'll just get someone to run the errands for me_. He chuckled and went back to his reading.

And then he heard a series of loud thuds in front, and he looked up again.

From the way it was shaking, he could tell that someone was trying to break through the door.

"It's not locked ! Please identify yourself before coming in !"

There was no reply, but Puvas could see the door handle turning. And then the door was flung open, and a torrent of deep red haze flooded into the office.

"What the –" Puvas stood up with a start, and held up his right arm to block the lower half of his face from the unidentified gas. It was then that he heard a brief screech that sent a chill down his spine.

"Somebody there ? What's going on ?"

The haze was translucent, like slightly diluted blood, through it he could make out the wide open door ahead. His eyes widened as he saw a dark, almost black, substance spreading out from the door across the surrounding wall, like a blot of ink spreading across a piece of cloth. Within the door, it was dark too. He could barely make out a strange figure standing outside. It was difficult to observe clearly within the haze, which cast a deep red hue on all his surroundings, but something about that figure's outline made him shudder.

The figure moved, followed by another spine-chilling screech.

Instinctively, Puvas reached down with his left hand, drew the pistol holstered to his waist, and pointed it towards the door. The next moment, a gigantic sword, tip pointing straight down, was plunged down right in front of him, and pinned his left arm to the table top, almost slicing it in half.

"AAAARRRRGGGHHH !" The force of the blow forced Puvas to lean forward onto the table, head turned to his right. The pain forced all the air out of his lungs, and almost all rational thought from his mind.

"**YOU DID NOT TURN !"**

The sword was pulled up from the table, and Puvas saw an inky fluid spurt all over, staining the table the same colour as the dark substance spreading across the office walls, and the corridor outside.

"**DIE !"**

Puvas strained to turn his head further and look up, just in time to see the jagged edge of the huge sword rushing down upon his neck.

;

The creature held up the severed head by its hair and let out a long screech of satisfaction. From the corridor outside there came similar but fainter screeches from other locations in the building.

}{

( Unknown Location) :

Gy awoke to a stabbing pain in his chest. He coughed and looked down over his chest. _A literal stabbing pain_, he mused as stared at the power sword that was plunged through his heart. _So am I dead or alive now ?_

He lay there staring at the sword as the memory of what had happened earlier on came back to him. So he had been getting interrogated by this inquisitor and the latter's assistant, about the suspected connections he had with Chaos. Soon, he had been overcome with rage, and he had fought the inquisitor, who had then subdued him and stabbed him in the heart. Yet, throughout the struggle, he had not felt much panic. Rather, the sensation had been more of … an exciting battle. _Maybe I had fallen to chaos after all. Might as well. I'm done serving those tall-hats who act like they speak for the Emperor himself …_

_So now … what happens now ? _

After a while, he decided that staring was not going to help him answer that question. One hand reached up and closed around the hilt of the sword and with a grunt, Gy pulled the weapon out of his chest. He saw no blood stains on it, nor was there any blood gushing out of his chest either. _So I'm that far gone huh._

He sat up, marveling at how little pain it caused him despite the horrendous injury that he was supposed to have suffered. He looked around. All around him was nothing but blackness. A starless night with no lighting at all.

So how was he able to see himself ?

He looked down at the floor. It was glowing. The light shining up through translucent marble floor flickered as if passing through running water. The surface of the marble floor was covered in a layer of iridescence that shifted and shimmered upon closer inspection.

Gradually, he realized, the shimmering was becoming more and more visible, brighter and brighter, until the whole floor around him seemed to be burning with waves of multi coloured flames. These flames condensed into nine moving clusters which ran circles around him, all the while growing taller and taller until they reached Gy's own height.

And then to his astonishment, the clusters of fires each began to sprout arms, legs, and toothless mouths from random positions. He gasped. He now recognized these toad-like creatures of flame.

The Horrors kept dancing around him, and emitting a frightful ululation that sounded like the laughter of madmen mixed with the clinking of bells. Their circle gradually shrank, and Gy began to feel the heat from their fiery bodies.

"Get away from me !" Gy swung the sword in his hands at the Horror right in front of him. Tongues of flame trailed out from where the blade passed through the daemon's volatile body.

At once, all nine daemons stopped dancing, and turned to face him. Then they flared up like bonfires being fanned, and lunged at him in unison.

Gy immediately dropped down and rolled forward, his back taking the brunt of the Horror's fire. Once outside the circle, he ignored the burning sensation along his back, stood up, and ran forward into the darkness.

As he reached the edge of the glowing marble, he stumbled. Something had caught hold of his right leg. He looked down and saw that he was standing on a small area of dark green-brown mud. A green-brown tendril had reached up from within this mud and wound itself around his right leg like an epiphyte clinging to a tree. He pulled harder against it, but it refused to come off. He hacked at it with his sword, and to his horror, even more tendrils shot up from the mud and wrapped themselves around his legs.

Then he felt himself sinking into the mud. "No, let me go !" Frantically, he repeatedly swung his sword into the surface of the mud. Where the tip of the weapon cut across the surface, instead of flowing back in like normal mud would do, various objects squirmed their way out of the resulting groove.

Objects like maggots, blowflies, and seven green brown eyeballs which turned and stared at him. "**Hehehe, come to papa !**" The mud-creature bubbled and steamed, releasing a stench that made Gy nauseous like nothing had before, and threatened to knock him unconscious, but the intense dread of falling down into the Nurgling's nasty embrace kept him awake, and he kept hacking at the plague daemon with his sword in a fruitless attempt to kill it off.

The words that Softbelly had repeated just before flatlining now came back to him, and he repeated them loudly in anger. "Not like this ! Not like this ! NOT LIKE THIS !"

Just then a slender hand caught hold of his sword arm, and pulled him out of the mud pool. He staggered after the unseen rescuer, back onto what felt like dry ground, then looked up,

To see the most beautiful face he had ever seen in his life.

He gazed mesmerized at the pair of shadowy alluring eyes. He could not look away. Everything else was a purple haze and felt insignificant, except for an irresistible fragrance which further clouded his mind and drew him deeper into those glassy orbs, half closed seductively and now occupying most of his vision.

He felt something soft, smooth and warm press up against his lips.

The kiss sent an electric current through his body which quelled any will to resist. Without thinking, Gy reached up with his free hand to caress the Daemonette's breasts. All six of them.

However, before he was done, something large slammed into the Daemonette from the side, forcing them apart and knocking her away from his sight.

"**BEGONE ! THIS MAN DIED IN GLORIOUS COMBAT ! HE BELONGS TO LORD KHORNE NOW !"**

Shocked at the interruption, and rudely awakened from the Daemonette's spell, Gy turned around and looked about in confusion.

Behind him, he saw that the circle of approaching Horrors had been attacking the Nurgling. Balls of fire and blobs of mud flew all over the place. Then, at once, the Horrors shrank and died out with a bone chilling wail, while the Nurgling bubbled and steamed furiously until it had been boiled off into nothingness.

A few metres to his right, the Daemonette struggled to get up. Even so badly injured, her figure was just … gorgeous, and she glanced at Gy with a look of hurt that could cause even the most cold-blooded killer to drop his weapons and rush to help her up.

Gy was just about to do that, when that powerful voice bellowed again, causing the Daemonette to pick herself up with a start and stagger back into the darkness.

"**Do not be swayed by these distractions ! ONLY THE BLOOD GOD CAN GRANT YOU TRUE POWER ! ONLY HE CAN SATE YOUR THIRST FOR VENGEANCE !"**

With a sigh, Gy turned around towards the source of the voice, and fell back at what he saw.

The figure that now towered over him could have been several stories high, exactly how many he could not tell. It was dimly illuminated by the familiar light flickering up from beneath the translucent marble floor.

The sight reminded him of the times when his unit had parked their vehicles under a giant statue of an Imperial Saint ( with wings spread out, sword raised in one hand, and a balance held in the other ), during some of those nighttime urban training exercises in an abandoned city square. One form of amusement that he and his men enjoyed ( after making sure the other commanders were not around ) was to shine their headlights up at the statue, giving the latter an unearthly aura. It was even more impressive when red light was used.

This time, the giant standing over him was already red all over, instead of stone grey or white. Instead of feet in boots carved to human proportions, it stood on powerful, digitigrades legs resembling those of a monstrous reptile, right down to its red-brown leathery skin and black claws. These curved pillars resembled the hind legs of a fearsome predator that had lived long ago on prehistoric Terra, long before any of the known sentient species of the galaxy had emerged. Gy could only remember the later part of its name: - saurus regus.

Unlike any reptile, the giant stood upright from the waist up. Black scale armour ( "scales" sounds small, but Gy was sure that each piece could have served as a scutari for him ), bound together by heavy grey cords, covered its chest and waist. A kilt of longer scales covered its thighs.

/ ( a scutari is the curved square shield used by ancient Roman legionaries )

Its arms, proportionate in size to the rest of the partially humanoid form, was heavily muscled, ending in rough, clawed, four-digit hands which could easily crush Gy in its grip. In its right hand it held a gigantic axe, which Gy vaguely recognized as similar in design to the weapons commonly used by followers of the God of Rage and Violence, though this axe here was far far larger. One swipe and a tank gets split in half.

Behind the figure, there were other appendages, that seemed even more impressive in size, but Gy could not see them clearly.

The figure bent down slightly to stare down at the human trying to stand up at its feet.

Gy could see its eyes as a pair of symmetrically oriented moons glowing phosphorescent scarlet white in the darkness above him.

"**WHAT IS THIS ? YOUR SANITY IS STILL INTACT !" **The Bloodthirster's voice roared like the sound of Imperial bombers flying overhead, complete with the rumble of the bombs themselves exploding intermittently, and the bombers crashing to the ground afterwards.

It shook everything in the vicinity and prevented Gy from standing up straight.

However, it did not prevent him from shouting back in reply. "Yes, I must remain somber until I have KILLED EVERY LIVING BASTARD IN THIS UNIVERSE ! … And who the heck are you !"

The two crescent red moons narrowed, whether in amusement or anger he could not tell, but he could see their glow intensify, descending closer to him as the Bloodthirster bent down even more, causing him to stagger back away, and then fall back again as its frightful head finally became visible in the dim light from below.

Again, it reminded Gy of that prehistoric monster, whose skeletal remains still inspire dread and awe at those who look upon them. What was it called again ? "- Saurus regus"

"**Wrong."**

Of course, this was a Greater Daemon, not any reptile fossil. Red leathery skin over strong-boned features. A pair of enormous ram-like horns growing out from the sides of the scalp and curving forward. A far shorter snout, the upper jaws curving up and leaving little space for a nose, and the lower jaws able to swing down at impossible width and angles, both lined with more than one row of black shark-like teeth silhouetted against a scarlet white fiery glow emitted from within its maw.

/ ( K, if you really have trouble imagining what the face looks like, Google a realistic artist's impression of T-Rex, then go to my profile and look at my avatar, and then think of a cross between them. )

Those scarlet flames belched as the Bloodthirster continued. **"I am Baelor, your supervisor."**

"I hate supervisors !" Gy tried to strike the most defiant pose he could think of, but failed as he realized that he was still unable to stand straight. "I've had enough of that shit !"

"**Good ! Always remember that hatred !" **Baelor appeared to smile, though given its horrid countenance, it came out as a murderous grin. **"Now go and spill blood in the Blood God's name !"**

Now if Gy was like any other traitor Guardsman who had sold his soul to Khorne, he would have joyfully replied with, "Right away, Great One ! Blood for the Blood God !", but Gy's rebelliousness had gotten the better of him, and he instead shouted,

"IF YOU WANT BLOOD, WHY NOT GO DO IT YOURSELF, DAEMON !"

For a moment there was silence, the both of them staring at each other motionlessly.

Then Baelor reared up and let out an earthshaking laughter. There was now the sound of crashed bombers being dragged back to a refuse dump, ground and crushed.

The noise caused Gy to stagger back a few steps, pressing his palms over his ears to shut out the terrible voice. His eyes were unfocused and his jaws hung limp.

Then the laughter stopped and Gy's vision cleared, just in time to see the Bloodthirster raise its axe to one side with both hands, then swing it down suddenly, the flat of the weapon rushing at Gy from his right like a solid metal fly-swatter being brought down angrily on an insect.

}{

( Interrogation Room, 20th Armoured Brigade HQ building ):

"**GET ME THE BLOOD !"**

Instinctively Gy exhaled just before the metal surface crashed into him and flung him several metres to the left.

He was stopped by another hard surface to his left.

The total compression force threatened to rearrange his bones and burst his organs.

And yet, when he could finally breath in again, he found to his surprise that he could still stand up. He swung his arms about, stretched his back, and rotated his head and feet. The joints creaked and felt weird but were not dislocated.

He also heard the splash of water as he moved his feet, and realized that he was standing in a shallow puddle of inky red fluid, a few centimeters deep.

Then he smelled it. Blood.

He looked around. The Bloodthirster was gone. He was back in the interrogation room from before.

The entire area of the floor was flooded with blood, and the walls were totally covered in blood as well. The single hanging lamp was still switched on, and under its dim orange light, he could see the shriveled corpse of the Inquisitor laying in the centre of the room, between the table and the broken chair. Its eyes and mouth were black hollows, stretched and fixed in a ghostly, silent wail.

He heard a gurgling noise from beside him, and turned his head in that direction. It was the Inquisitor's assistant, messily slumped down against the wall. Slight movement in the head of the dark bulky form told Gy that it was still alive and that it was beginning to wake up.

Without second thought, Gy raised the sword in his hand, and swung it horizontally in a wide arc at the assistant's neck.

A loud crack reverberated across the room as the edge of the sword went clean through the assistant's neck and hit the wall behind, followed immediately by said head rolling off, allowing a fountain of thick blood to gush out in its place.

It was then, as he screeched in delight at the bloody sight of the decapitated inquisitor's assistant, that Gy noticed the peculiar shape of his sword and the inhuman pair of hands holding on to its hilt.

* * *

K, that's all for now. Next up, a few squads of bloodletters, vs an entire camp of IG Armoured and Artillery divisions !

The reason why only some personnel got turned into Bloodletters will also be explained later.

I'll also drop hints about Gy's true background here and there in the story. ( In fact I've already dropped a pretty big one ... )

A question to anyone who's reading: should I raise this to an M rating ?

Have a nice day/night !

-Star


	3. Every Daemon Get Down !

Yes, I want to get to the violence straight away, but settings have to be done XP

Thanks to TenWings and ApocSM for letting me know that you like this fic :D

Legend ( for now ):

"Speech."

_Thought_

"**Daemonic Speech"**

}{ ( Scene change )

/( my comments, if any )

* * *

**Every Daemon Get Down !**

( 4th floor, 20th AB HQ Building )

The sword was roughly 1.6 metres long, with a metre long blade and 0.6 metre long hilt. The blade was that of a gracefully curved sabre, like a talwar, though slightly wider. The sharp cutting edge ran from the base to the tip of the outer curve, then turned around at the tip to cover three eighths of the inner curve, and was finally separated from the blunt edge by a sharp protrusion in the outline.

A line of ghastly glyphs crudely depicting furious eyes, claws, teeth and blood filled the middle of each face along the blade's whole length. The glyphs, as well as the cutting edge, glowed red hot like heated metal, against the obsidian black material of the rest of the blade. As blood washed over them, the glow in the glyphs flickered and intensified.

The hilt curved in the other direction from the blade, so that the whole weapon took the form of an "S" stretched vertically until it was almost straight. The hilt appeared to be made of bleached bone, and had organic designs carved into it to further pronounce that effect: a knob-like counter weight at the lower end; striations where the fingers curved around its inner curve; and its small guard was the socket of a socket joint from deep within which the blade grew out.

_Nice !_

Gy spun the weapon about and admired it from various angles. Upon closer inspection, the cutting edge had shallow serrations like those of a self-sharpening jack-knife. Close to the blade's tip, these serrations grew in size until they resembled shark's teeth.

He lowered the sword in one hand, walked over to the table ( which was directly under the hanging lamp), and held up his free hand towards the lamp, turning it slowly over to examine the transformation that it had undergone.

Generally the outline was still human. Five fingers. Joints where they were supposed to be. The similarity ended there.

His entire hand, in fact his entire arm, had become much more rugged. Short black claws in place of flat nails. Instead of normal human skin, it now had a much tougher, red-brown, leathery skin. As he looked downwards he realized that a similar change had occurred to his chest, his legs, his entire body ! His already impressive muscles had become firmer, as if made of carbon fibre. The joints were slightly larger and denser. However, his body remained lean, the same average widths along his limps and waist as was before the transformation, though judging from the perceived height of the lamp, he had grown taller.

All these new features reminded him of something.

He bent down to look at the surface of the blood on the floor. As he did so he also realized that the structure of his feet had changed, further strengthening his suspicion.

As he waited for the surface of the blood stilled, he half-expected a face similar to Baelor's to show up in his reflection, but what he saw was quite different.

Before he had time to study the reflection however, he heard the door to the room being opened, and he stood up to see,

A human-sized version of the Bloodthirster, except that it was much leaner, like Gy himself. Its jaws were also less savage, but still fearsome, resembling those of a Mako Shark. Unlike a shark, its nose was practically non-existent. Its skull was elongated backwards ( like that of a Xenomorph from the Alien movies, but shorter ). From the sides of its bald scalp, a pair of bull like horns curved up, then backwards to run parallel to the length of the skull, then outwards again.

In its right hand it held a double edged broadsword with jagged edges, shorter and more brutish than Gy's own sword, but made of the same materials and inscribed in the same glowing glyphs.

The Bloodletter stared at Gy with eyes which glowed a furious blood-red against the shadows of its low brow-ridges, and then spoke in its unearthly voice.

"**What orders from the Master ?"**

For a silent moment Gy stared back at the daemon. Then, it recalled the last words Baelor had spoken when the Bloodthirster sent ( or rather, wacked ) him back into the physical world.

"**Get him the blood !" **Gy replied in a similar, but clearer, voice.

The Bloodletter grinned, then raised its Hellblade and cried out, **"Get blood for the Master !"**

To Gy's surprise, this was answered by a loud chorus of **"Get blood for the Master !"** from the corridor outside.

_There's more of them ?_

Gy walked over to the door. The Bloodletter stepped aside to allow him to exit the room.

He looked around. On one side of the corridor were supposed to be the doors to the various rooms and offices, including the Interrogation room. Along the other side were the windows, which let in the dim light from the overcast sky outside, and this dim light that pierced the gloomy darkness revealed a most shocking scene.

The walls, floor and ceiling was all covered in blood, just as it was in the Interrogation room. In a few areas where the blood was thickest, there even seemed to be giant pulsating blood vessels and other dubious organic features like black beady eyes, bony spines, and fleshy feelers growing and spreading along the surface. As he would soon find out, the whole interior of the building was covered in the disturbing Warp flesh. A faint red mist hung near the floor and some parts of the walls.

And the corridor was crowded with the daemons of the Blood God ! Had they congregated there to wait for his arrival ? Did that mean that he was their leader now ? Or were they just waiting for the last soldier sent by Baelor to fall in so that they could carry on with … whatever they were supposed to do ?

His ruminations was interrupted by a familiar woman's voice sounding from the loudspeaker installed in the ceiling of the corridor.

"Attention all in-camp personnel ! A daemonic incursion has been reported in the 20th Armour Brigade HQ building. All living 20th AB HQ staff are to evacuate said building immediately ! Others standby for further instr-"

The woman's voice was cut off by a buzzing sound, followed by the voice of a middle-aged main, "This is Colonel Lyntus speaking. I have received the reports of the incursion. Its precise nature has not been determined, but the reports strongly suggest the presence of Bloodletters. Specialist squads have been dispatched to investigate and contain the threat.

For the rest of you: Armour and Artillery units standby your vehicles. Infantry units assemble on the training field in full battle order. Be on the alert for other signs of a Chaos attack.

And remember: the Emperor Protects !"

"**Shit !"** Gy's first instinct was to follow the instructions and "evacuate the building". After taking a few steps forward he realized that he _was_ part of the "daemonic incursion" now. That meant …

He rushed over to the nearest window and looked through it at the parade square outside, four storeys below him.

The the general shape of the 20th AB HQ building was what you got when you cut a cone vertically into half, remove one half, then cut the remaining object horizontally across the middle and remove the top half, resulting in a semicircular base, a smaller semicircular roof, a sloping wall bending around most of the building and a trapezoidal "cliff face" overlooking a parade square with the usual flag poles, platforms, and marked areas. On the end of the parade square opposite from the "cliff face", it sloped gently down for quite a visible distance until it reached the edge of the expansive common training field, which the 20th AB shared with other units in the camp.

The "cliff face" itself was 7 storeys high ( the height of the whole building ), with a wide colonnaded entrance in the middle bottom, and 7 storeys of irregularly spaced windows across its surface.

It was from one of these windows in the 4th floor that Gy looked out, and spotted the one whole company of what looked like Elite Infantry running up the slope at the edge of the field, over the parade square, and towards the building he was in.

_Karskin._

From afar, they looked like the average Imperial Guardsmen. Similar green armour. Similar light arms. Yet to someone like Gy, the differences were glaring. The armour worn by the Karskin were far darker in colour and slightly heavier, concealing far more sophisticated equipment, as hinted now and then by a red or blue spot of light coming from their helmets.

The way they moved also set them apart from the normal Guardsmen. When the latter charged, it was like a race, each trooper rushing to the given destination before regrouping with his comrades and moving on to the next.

Not so with the Guards' Elite. The Karskin advanced briskly in orderly formation, not in ranks and rows, but rather as a loose body of overlapping ovoids. The outer ring of troopers pointed their las-rifles outwards, on the lookout for enemy ambush. Even those at the very back of the formation had their sights trained behind them all the time as they followed the rest.

Further in, near the back, were a group of troopers of imposing stature, carrying the heavier equipment used by the company, including the signal devices, medical kits, and several heavy bolters.

Near the front, were a smaller group in various get-ups. Two frail looking persons, each holding a staff in his hand and wearing a long grey robe; a metal cap-like device covering the top half of his head. Psykers,used to detect enemy troop movements. One bald middle aged man in brown, gold trimmed robes, holding a bronze-coloured chain-sword in one hand and a brown-covered in the other. A priest, eager to purge their destination of the taint of Chaos.

Finally, at the very spearhead of the group, a man dressed similarly to the other troopers except that his armour was lighter and he wore a green cap instead of a helmet. The sword sheathed at his waist was longer than that carried by his comrades. The weapon in his hand was a pistol rather than the rifles and bolters used by his comrades. This was the enemy commander.

Gy narrowed his eyes. Somehow, coming back to life seemed to have endowed him with perfect eyesight, beyond the level of a normal human being. Strangely, he had not noticed this before. As he ran his gaze over the approaching Karskin formation, now in the middle of the parade square, he realized that his vision was still the same as before, but it sharpened to a high degree whenever a potential living enemy came within his range of sight, combined with the unnameable urge to tear said enemy apart and drain its blood. This sudden focus allowed him to recognize the enemy commander's face.

Lieutenant Krewk. Once a dear buddy, now his "potential enemy".

Presently, the trooper beside said enemy commander passed a pair of binoculars to him. Lt. Kreuk held it up, and looked through it at the "cliff face", in Gy's direction.

Krewk, held up one hand in a "halt" sign. And starting from right behind him, row by row the whole company of Karskin stopped advancing and settled into high alert poses.

And then Gy saw Krewk point the raised hand in Gy's direction, shout something he could not comprehend, and at once every Karskin trooper holding a las-rifle pointed his weapon at the fourth floor of the "cliff face".

"**Incoming las-fire !**" Gy turned to the Bloodletters beside him and shouted. "**Every daemon GET DOWN !**" And squatted down at the same time.

The next moment, the corridor was lit up by thin red threads of light streaming in densely through the windows and throwing up thicker red mists as they struck the bloody glistening walls and ceiling.

Those bloodletters standing close to the windows and who had not reacted to Gy's warning and ducked down in time had their heads and shoulders perforated and boiled off by concentrated laser fire. Each of the ten unfortunate daemons dropped to the floor, its upper bodie now a charred mess emitting red smoke from all over.

Immediately, Gy dashed to the middle of the corridor. His battle instincts had kicked in, and he started thinking up a plan, out loud. "**Everyone get to the basement, now ! keep your heads low ! and …" **As he reached the place where the wall opened into a wide staircase instead of a room, and turned to descend, he came across the shocking headless corpse of a trooper (probably killed by a bloodletter not long ago) slouched against the blood-drenched steps and wall. _Ah to the Warp with decorum ! Survival is more important !_ **"… pick up any stand-off weapon you find !" **He went over to the corpse, wrenched the las-pistol from its lifeless hands, and handed it to the confused bloodletter standing behind him. "**Get a move on ! Down the stairs NOW !"**

Just then, there was a series of loud intermittent cracks. The glass in the windows frosted over and shattered, and small but deafening explosions occurred here and there as heavy bolter rounds struck the ceiling and walls.

At once, Gy dashed down the staircase, followed by a crowd of cursing and screeching bloodletters.

Before all the daemons could clear off the fourth floor, two large frag grenades flew in through two of the broken windows, hit the opposite wall, bounced to the floor and detonated together. The expanding wave of pellets hit the last four bloodletters in the group. The latter fell forward and tumbled down the stairs screaming, crashing into those in front, and causing them to double their pace, literally avalanching down the staircase as more and more bloodletters turned from leaping down the stairs to sliding down the railings, clambering across the bloody walls … and each other.

}{

( 20th AB HQ Parade Square )

"S-Sir," Lt. Krewk heard one of the Sanctioned Psykers he'd brought along stutter to him from behind. "The daemonic presence, it's moving down … very fast … ground floor … no ! they're going underground !"

"Got it." Krewk kept his gaze on the entrance of the building ahead. Through the latters' glass doors, he could make out the reception lounge within, with its desks and usually decorated walls, now an usually dark inky colour. _Dammit, on the ground floor, the staircase opens from behind the wall around the reception area, not towards the front like on the other levels. That means we can't just fire upon them from afar as they pass through the ground floor._

He turned around to face his men, pointed at the building behind him with his left thumb, and ordered, "Alright ! We moving in now ! Standard maneuvers ! Secure every office and niche you can find ! Medics and coms personnel wait outside the entrance until we call you in ! Sargeant Nas, your squad and the Heavy Weapons team come with me. We'll look for any door that leads underground."

"YES SIR !"

The hundred and twenty Elite Infantry promptly advanced towards the building entrance.

/( K, I'm not sure how many Karskin there are in one company. If it's actually far more than that, then just take it that Kreuk only brought a few select squads XP )

}{

( 20th AB HQ basement )

The first impression that one got when he entered the "basement" was that it was a cross between the interior of a warehouse, and one section of an underground parking lot.

Unconstrained by the floor plan design of the building above, it was spacious, capable of holding twelve Leman Russ tanks ( including ample space for each tank to turn and perform any gun drills ), with an approximately square rather than semicircular floor plan.

In the middle of the each of the three walls other than the one through which the staircase opened, there was a trapezoidal doorway, big enough for three Sentinel walkers to step through together ( the basement itself was about twice the height of a walker ). These doorways lead into tunnels which connected the various underground facilities of the camp with each other, but now they were sealed shut by heavy sliding blast doors, probably ordered in response to the daemonic incursion.

_Those will be taken care of later. _Gy scratched the floor with his modified hellblade as he kept walking towards the middle of the basement, taking note of the ease with which it carved into the concrete.

Besides the large sealed doors were dim white phosphorescent lights ( the only functioning lighting in this underground facility ), as well as smaller doors and windows opening into the vital storage facilities used by the 20th AB : Armoury, Stores, Tool Cages etc.

Strewn about here and there across the empty space of the basement were messy piles of crates, boxes and equipment currently not in use, like mechanical parts, long metal ladders etc, which the Quartermaster had not had time ( or had not bothered ) to sort out.

_Hmm …_

As he looked up, Gy saw the mass of plastic and metal pipes, tubes, and cables that covered the ceiling : plumbing and power lines for the floors above.

His free hand reached up to scratch his chin, then froze as he felt the twitching feelers and tentacles growing out from that section of his face.

_What the h… no matter, first things first._

He turned and looked at the crowd of Bloodletters which had gathered around him. Most of them stared at him expectantly, waiting for him to decide their next move, though some were growling and tapping the tips of their Hellblades on the floor, eager to feed their weapons with blood right away. Some were testing the las-pistols they had picked up by shooting randomly at their neighbours' feet, and then jumping as they got shot at as well.

"**Alright, now … I'm not sure if you understand what I'm saying but … right now Krewk and his men have probably taken over the floor above. They'll find us soon. If we confront them the way we are now, we'll all die a horrible death. So … let's give you guys a crash course on human tactics and weapons ! … OK ?"**

For a while, the Bloodletters continued with their staring, growling and tapping. The Lieutenant stared back at them, not sure what to do. During this moment of silence, Gy was able to discern their individual appearances. He counted fifty-four daemons, including the four with their backs disfigured by the exploding grenade. Some had two pairs of horns while other had only one. Some were taller and leaner while the others were shorter and stouter. So on so forth, just as it was with individual humans.

Something about their toothy grins struck a bell in his mind, but he could not quite place it. He had a feeling that if he could have seen the dead faces of the ( unfortunately ) headless corpses they had come across while rushing down the stairs, he might have comfirmed for himself the connection he had with these daemons now standing before him.

_From their badges, none of those corpses belonged to my battalion …_

And then, to his utter astonishment, from somewhere within the crowd, one of them shouted,"**YES SIR ! MORE BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD !"**

The rest of the crowd shouted excitedly in reply, **"MORE SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE !"**

As Gy was about to find out, the Bloodletter's elongated skull, and rugged hands, were NOT just for show.

}{

( 20th AB ground floor staircase )

Krewk, Sargeant Nas and his squad, the two psykers, the priest, and the Heavy Weapons team stood in a circle around the room-sized opening through which the staircase descended into the underground.

The Heavy Weapons team was setting up firing positions besides the stair, while the Priest, brother Abel, was busy trying to scrape off the blood from the walls and muttering prayers mixed in with curses and exclamations now and then as he came across an eyeball, a tentacle, or lamprey-like mouth.

Krewk motioned towards the wall of crates and mechanical spare parts now completely blocking the entrance into the "basement". "They're in there ?"

"Y-yes !" One of the psykers replied.

Sargeant Nas frowned. "Them Khorne followers, huh ? No way in hell. They'd never be this methodical. This looks more like something that _we_ would do …"

Krewk held up his coms unit. "Command Post. This is Lieutenant Krewk. We've secured the ground floor of the target building. The psykers tell me the daemons are congregating at the basement below us. The entrance to the basement has been blocked with crates and broken equipment."

The coms unit emitted a buzzing voice in reply. "Understood, Lieutenant, we have already sealed off all other doorways leading into that 20th AB basement to prevent them from escaping through it. You are to break through the barricade and neutralize the daemonic threat now."

"Now, Sir ? but we don't know what's in there. We could be rushing in to a trap !"

"Every second counts Lieutenant !"

"Understood." Krewk looked around. _Tight space. Can't use explosives_. He turned towards the two teams of troopers manning the heavy bolters set up beside the stair. "Alright, fire the crates."

The thunderous noise of heavy automatic weapons fire filled the staircase as the intermittent streams of supersonic, self-propelled ammunition shells tore through the haphazardly raised wall of crates. Everyone stepped back to avoid the cloud of dust, wooden splinters and the occasional nuts and bolts thrown up by the intermittent onslaught of bolter rounds.

However, Lieutenant Krewk kept his gaze fixed on the basement entrance. After a few seconds, he held up one free hand. "HOLD !"

The din died down abruptly. In the ensuing silence, the dust cloud settled, revealing the entrance, with pieces of perforated wood and metal laying all over the steps descending through it, beyond which the floor of the dark basement below was now visible.

Before Krewk could issue his next order, an inhuman roar rose up from the underground.

"**BLASTED SERVANTS OF THE DEAD EMPEROR ! HIDING BEHIND YOUR GUNS AND SANDBAGS ! COME DOWN HERE AND FIGHT LIKE THE ELITE YOU CLAIM TO BE !"**

While Krewk pondered about the weird tone used in that challenge,

Brother Abel had suddenly appeared beside him and shouted down the stairway, "OH YES WE WILL, CHAOS SCUM ! BE PREPARED TO FACE THE EMPEROR'S JUDGEMENT !" The priest waved his book and chainsaw angrily.

"**AND YOU HAVE YET TO COME FORWARD ! WHY ? WAITING FOR YOUR COMRADES TO MARCH IN AND FIGHT FOR YOU ? YOUR BARK IS WORSE THAN YOUR BITE ! AS EXPECTED OF ONE WHO WORSHIPS A … SHRUNKEN CORPSE !"**

"BLASPHEMY ! THE EMPEROR'S MIGHT KNOWS NO BOUNDS ! YOU SHALL DIE FOR INSULTING THE THRONE, DAEMON !"

The Priest made to step down the stairs, but Krewk caught him by the arm. "Brother Abel, we must stay calm. Those weren't the words of a normal servant of Khorne. There's more to this Incursion than the initial reports are telling us."

If Krewk's words had any effect on the agitated cleric, it was immediately undone by the next roar of insult from the daemon.

"**YOUR … EMPEROR IS NOT WORTHY ENOUGH TO EVEN LICK THE BLOOD GOD'S BOOTS, HUMAN !"**

"WHAT !" With a violent jerk, brother Abel broke free of Krewk's grip and rushed down the stairs, waving his chain-sword madly in the air and yelling a string of Holy Litanies devoted to the Emperor.

"Shit !" Krewk urgently turned to Sargeant Nas, and pointed at the figure of Brother Abel disappearing down the stair. "BlackSand squad, follow him now ! Take note of your surroundings, but if there's too many ememies, retreat back here at once !"

"Yes, Sir !" Sargeant Nas and ten other troopers hurried down after the priest.

Krewk then turned to the psykers. "Alert the other squads ! Whatever comes out of that hole we must be prepared for battle !"

"Y-yes sir …"

}{

( 20th AB HQ Basement )

Gy couldn't believe himself.

In a few seconds, he had shouted three insults to the very deity he had been worshipping from birth till not long ago. He had seen men getting shot immediately for doing that. Granted, he was being cheered on by a group of bloodletters, but it was such a shocking experience even to himself, that he almost lost his hold on the pipes he had been clinging onto.

_No … nobody's shooting me this time ! Before that I'll, I'll twist off their limbs, take off their heads, rip out their innards, squeeze out their blood …_

The sound of hurried footsteps and rude yelling brought his attention back to the entrance below, through which a Priest emerged running towards the centre of the basement, followed by eleven Karskin troopers.

_Just one squad ? Damn, Krewk is being cautious, as always... Hehe, too cautious for his own good. If he'd rushed in with his whole task force, he might have won ( though most of either side would have died. )_

He turned to the Bloodletters crouching beside him. **"Ready ?"**

They nodded.

Presently, the Priest and the squad following him were directly below where Gy was. The troopers were on high alert, their sights sweeping the shadowy basement around them. None of them thought of looking up.

"**Remember, be quick and silent ! and don't go too close to the entrance !" **Gy crawled over to an opening in the plumping network. The sixteen bloodletters beside him just hacked through the pipes beneath them with their hellblades.

And together, they jumped.

* * *

Round one: Karskin 10, Bloodletters 0. ( as you can tell, the situation is about to be reversed, drastically ;)

I had the idea that bloodletters are actually very intelligent, cos the most recent models all have long heads XD

And I know, the Blood God war chant is getting overused. I'll think of something else next chapter XP

Now, Review Time ! I'm sure there's some complaints or suggestions you want to give me, like "No ! 120 Karskin won't stand a chance against 50 bloodletters ! here's why …" or the other way round etc.

See y'all next chapter !

Till then,

Have a nice day/night :)

-Star


End file.
